Metallic airship of the rigid type



Nova 4, 1930.

T. 5. SLATE METALLIC AIRSHIP OF THE RIGID TYP" Original Filed A rilj zs, 192's IN VE'N TOR Won/25B 52/7715 flTTOFf/VEY Patented Nov. 4, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE THOMAS 1B. SLATE, OF

METALLIC AIR-SHIP OF THE RIGID TYPE Original application filed April 28, 1926, Serial No. 105,279. Divided and this application filed April 6,

1927, Serial No. 181,584. Renewed March 24, 1930.

strength and lightness, and which is also gastight and fireproof, and which will eliminate the use of the canvas heretofore required in the conventional Zeppelin type of airship.

It is also my purpose to eliminate a multi- 1o plicity of parts heretofore required, and to obtain a more rigid structure having a lighter gross weight. I

It is also my object to provide an airship shell which is lightning-proof, by making the outside covering of ametal that is a good conductor of electricity.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a novel process of and means for shaping metal strips to be used in constructing the hull of an airship and for any other purpose to which the process may be found suitable.

v for producing It is a further object of my invention to provide novel means for forming the sheet metal strips in corrugated form, whereby to give greater strength and lightness and to eliminate a multiplicity of jointed parts in an airship casing.

I attain the objects of my invention by the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the forms used the longitudinal corrugated metal strips used in forming the hull of the airship;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the form for shaping the longitudinal strips with one of the strips mounted thereon;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the form for shaping the transverse rings used to reinforce the hull of the airship;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 13-13 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 1414 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail transverse section through a portion of the airship showing the lock seaming of the edges of the longitudinal strips and the broadly arcuate shape of such a section of the hull; and

Fig. 7 is a detail interior plan view of a portion of the airship hull and of the reinforcing rings.

Likenumerals designate like parts respective Views.

Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawings which illustrates a small section of the shell of the airship, I provide this shell with gored corrugations 62 extending longitudinally of the in the ship. The shell is formed of a series of suitably curved and tapered strips extending from the nose to the tail of the ship and having opposite longitudinal edges bent to U-shape, as at 64;, to permit the edges of adjacent strips to interlock. The strips are then secured by rivets65 and sealed. I also provide corrugated rings 66 mounted in spaced relation interiorly of the shell of the airship. The rings 66 function to give rigidity to the longitudinal corrugated strips that form the shell of the airship. I may provide bracing wires similar to the spokes of GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO SLATE AIRCRAFT GOR- PORATION, A CORPORATION OF NEVADA a bicycle wheel, arranged for cross and lon- I gitudinal bracing of the hull, but prefer .to entirely omit such bracing wires.

The entire ship is metal and non-inflammable and the main shell or casing may be filled with hydrogen gas and be practically as safe as it would be With helium. Compensation for gas expansion in the ship is cared for by a fixed compensation bag in approximately the center of lift and in the lower half of the ship. This causes the ship to stand on an even keel of its own accord by reason of the fact that. the ship is entirely means for shaping metal strips to be used in constructing the hull of my airship, or for any other purposes to which the process may be found suitable, I provde drums or rollers 71 having suitable handles for revolving same. A strip-of sheet metal is laid over the outside of the form 68 (which'is strengthened by suitably reinforcing strips 70), and fastened at its ends to the drums or rollers 71 and these are then revolved in the proper direction to stretch the sheet of metal. When thesheet has been placed under the tension of its elastic limit it will conform to the corrugations of form 68, or form 74. This operation may be considerably aided by rubbing the strip down at the same time that additional stress is applied to drums 71. The strips of metal are always left in even and uniform width until they have been shaped to the desired form. The strips are then trimmed to the proper width from end to end, tapering at each end, and the edges 63 are bent into, U-shape for lock seams, as indicated inFig. 7. The strips are joined together to form a symmetricalhull and the U-shaped edges are-lock seamed and fastened by rivets 65. The corrugations extending longitudinally of the meal strips conform to the gored shape of the strips as shown.

The operation in forming the bracing rings 66 is somewhat similar. I provide a form 7 4 having a surface suitably corrugated as desired. At one end is a block connected by I links 76 to the end of form 7 4. The strip of metal is drawn from .one end andis held by block 75 during the drawing process. I first wind on the roller a strip of metal of sufficient length to make one complete circle of the hull of the airship. The strip is gradually unwound from drum 7 3. As it'is unwound block 75 is moved back and forth to shape the strip into desired cross-sectional corrugations, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The corrugations in either circular or longitudinal ribs may be of any suitable shape to give great strength to strips of light metal. The corrugated strips of metal function as longitudinal frame and outside covering combined in one piece to reduce the total weight of the airship.

The circular rings are made in one continuous strip to add to their strength without adding the weight of riveted joints, etc.

I may provide load wires 14 afiixed to the rings 66 to which I may run cables from concentrated load posit-ions such as the main cabin or gondolas.

This type of airship may be cross-braced in its cross-section by cross-bracing from one side to the other by staggered spokes as in a bicycle wheel with what would correspond to the hub of the wheel being of considerable length, and further braced longitudinally by crossing braces from one ring to another throughout the length of the ship, except the ls)mal1 portion occupied by the compensation I prefer to construct the ship entirely without internal bracing such as is used in Zeppelin or other rigid ship members, and depend on the shell structure of the ship, as does the eggon its shell for its strength.

It is understood in regard to the strength of the shell of this ship that the annular cross member or rib is for the purpose of spacing the corrugations of the strips of outside covering to make them rigid in their width so that when seamed together and then fastened together by being riveted to the cross member it makes the entire structure in effect a single structure.

The longitudinal corrugations have a longitudinal rigidness and those corrugations spaced by the cross member give cross rigidness to the entire structure and being round like an egg and coming to a common center at its two ends leaves no place for fiexion of the metal to go to asit would have in a half shell or any portion of the structure. As an example, if one should endeavor to press in the two sides of the ship as between two objects that could cause apressure that would tend to flatten the round contour of the ship, it would be necessary either to crush the corrugated outside cover of the two sides in their length or to stretch the corrugated cover of the top and bottom in order to allow the sides to come closer together. Another example is the bent stave of a barrel to add strength to the barrel. If the barrel had its staves glued together so that in efi'ect they were one struc ture and they were continued until they reached a common center at each end the super-strength partially given to the barrel by the small amount of curvature by the stave would be increased a great many times.

A structure of the type described having corrugated strips of metal to correspond to the staves of the barrel and seamed and riveted together to make them one continuous structure, and having the corrugations spaced apart by a cross member such as rings 66 riveted to the inside constituting the hull structure of the ship allows the free expansion and contraction of the outside cover by variations in temperature because there are no other longitudinal members. The cross members likewise may expand and contract at will regardless of the temperature of the outside cover because the outside covering is corrugated across the direction of the cross members (rings 66). This prevents any stresses being built up in the structure by heat variation, which would tend to loosen the rivets and cause weakness in the structure, where the outside cover is to be the gas container.

What I claim is 1. An airship of the lighter than air type having an all metal hull comprising gored strips of longitudinally corrugated metal, the corrugations being correspondingly tapered at each end, the strips having their edges lock-seamed and sealed together, and spacing members comprising strips of metal corrugated longitudinally of the strips and formed into rings whereby to space the corrugations of the longitudinal strips to make them rigid in their width.

2. An airship of the lighter than air type having an all metal hull comprising gored strips of longitudinally corrugated metal, the corrugations being correspondingly gored at each end, the strips having their edges lock-seamedand sealed together, spacing members comprising light metal strips corrugated longitudinally of their length randformed into rings afiixed to and becoming a part of the corrugated hull of the airship, the ship having no longitudinal frame other than the corrugated outside cover to prevent the outside cover from expanding and contracting with variations in temperature, and there being no other structure than the aforesaid rings or spacing members to prevent the said spacing members from expanding or contracting with heat variations.

3. In an airship of the type described, the

combination of longitudinally curved and corrugated strips forming the outside covering of the airship, the strips having their edges fastened and sealed to each other to form a gas-tight rigid covering, and rings corrugated to strengthen same, said rings being riveted to the outside covering at spaced intervals to reinforce the hull of the ship.

4. In an airship of the type described, the

combination of longitudinally corrugated strips, the strips having their edges fastened and sealed to each other to form a gas tight rigid coveringgand rings being corrugated to strengthen'same,said rings being riveted at spaced intervals to the longitudinal strips, and cross and longitudinal load Wires aflixed to the rings to reinforce the hull of the ship.

'5. An airship hull consisting of a series of metal strips, each of said strips being corrugated to form a continuous series of channel beam members extending the full length of the ship and having a common terminus at both ends of the ship, the strips being securely fastened together to each other to form an integral structure, and corrugated rings extending around the diameter .of the ship and riveted to the aforesaid seriesof metal strips to make them rigid in their width to form a longitudinally and diametrically self-braced ri id structure.

T OMAS B. SLATE. 

